Turkish PM under fire for Kurdish rapprochement

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came under fire at the Turkish parliament Tuesday following his meeting in Diyarbakır last week with Kurdistan Regional Government leader Masoud Barzani, with some opposition members saying it amounted to treason.

Turkey’s parliament was the site of political drama yesterday as the government and opposition parties vented their fury at each other over Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s weekend visit to Diyarbakır in Southeast Anatolia.

Erdoğan met with Kurdistan Regional Government leader Masoud Barzani and Kurdish singer Şivan Perwer in Diyarbakır on November 16, sparking bitter criticism from the opposition, some members of which said Erdoğan’s visit amounted to treason and accused him of supporting "separatism".

But Erdoğan stood behind the approach he took in Diyarbakır on the Kurdish issue, while notably using the term “Kurdistan” – in apparent defiance of the criticism he has faced from ultranationalists for using the designation.